


Father's Day

by Iverna



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Captain Charming - Freeform, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-18
Updated: 2018-06-18
Packaged: 2019-05-24 18:25:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14959802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Iverna/pseuds/Iverna
Summary: Killian learns about Father's Day, and finds that he's not the only one who doesn't care for the reminders it holds. Set during season 3, in Storybrooke.





	Father's Day

He finds out about it from Henry. The lad is excited for his first real Father’s Day, and Emma is hiding her fondness behind the usual wryly amused smile, and it makes Killian smile in turn even as his insides shrivel.

Father’s Day. A day for appreciating and honouring the man who raised you. He sees the cards in the shop, the posters with gift ideas, most of which seem to involve some kind of technological contraption that Killian can’t begin to understand.

One of them, in the shop offering this realm’s idea of sailing supplies, suggests a boat trip.

Killian grinds his teeth together, resisting the urge to tear the advertisement to shreds. That’s the ticket, right enough. A one-way trip in a damn boat.

Even after all these years, the rage hasn’t quite left him. His father did, but not the rage, no. It’s simmering down in the part of his heart that he likes to pretend doesn’t exist, the part that’s hurt and always angry. The part that understood Baelfire even when he didn’t want to, that reached out to the boy almost against Killian’s will.

The part that aches now, when he sees Henry and Neal eating cake in Granny’s, with Emma and her smile keeping them company. Neal smiles, as well, and at times it’s too bright, like he too is trying to cover up that deep-down part of his heart.

Killian _hates_ Father’s Day.

It takes him a while to notice that he isn’t the only one not overly fond of the holiday. In the evening, Killian finds David Nolan sitting alone at the bar in Granny’s, nursing his usual one beer and staring at nothing. The quip about long faces is on the tip of Killian’s tongue when he realises.

Emma is not here. Emma is in the park, with Henry and Neal. Emma, to the best of Killian’s knowledge, still calls her parents by their names. She has slipped up a few times, but never when they’re around.

Killian hesitates, looking over at the prince. At a man who sent his daughter away and broke his own heart doing it, a man whose heart is still breaking.

Abandonment. Heartbreak. There’s been too much of it already.

He slides onto the stool next to David’s, and orders a beer.

“Hey,” David says, apparently not quite moody enough to forget his manners.

“Evening, mate,” Killian says. “You know, it’s bad luck to drink alone.”

David shoots him a narrow-eyed look. “I’ve never heard that.”

“Ancient pirate knowledge,” Killian says wisely, even though it’s nothing of the sort.

David scoffs. “Good to know you’re as annoying as ever.”

“Believe it or not, I’m trying to be less so,” Killian says. That’s not quite true either, but it’s the opening he needs. “Emma has been rather insistent.”

David looks skeptical, and a little intrigued, and a little like he wants to glare. “Oh?”

“Mhmm. I believe her exact words were, ’stop antagonising my dad, Hook, I don’t want to have to break up another fight.’”

For a moment, David does glare. Then his expression shifts, and his eyes seem to lighten somehow. He’s a man who carries his heart on his sleeve, and Killian can practically see the little leap it gives. And he’s definitely going soft or just plain stupid, because he swears his own lightens just a tad, and the old, abandoned, rage-simmering part of him wants to reach out again.

“She’s a smart woman,” is all David says.

“I’ll drink to that,” Killian says, and lifts his glass in salute.

David huffs out a laugh, clinks his glass against Killian’s, and takes another swig. “Cheers.”


End file.
